Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his statement that her party had discarded the principles of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar.

Responding to the PM’s remarks, which were made on Wednesday at a rally in Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati said, “Yesterday PM Modi at his election rally here in UP made a sharp comment on BR Ambedkar ji. To the BJP, Congress and other opposition parties, Ambedkar-ji may be a plank for vote politics but to BSP he is the soul.”

On Wednesday, the PM had at a rally held at the border of Ambedkar Nagar and Ayodhya slammed SP and BSP for forgetting the principles of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Ram Manohar Lohia.

“Be it SP, BSP or Congress, it is necessary to know their reality. Behen-ji used the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar but she did everything which is just the opposite of his principles,” the PM said referring to Mayawati.

Read More | SP-BSP used name of Ambedkar, Lohia but did everything opposite: PM Modi in Ambedkar Nagar

“SP used the name of Lohia-ji but they destroyed the law and order situation in UP,” he added.

Mayawati also accused the BJP of playing the Masood Azhar card to garner votes in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, whose party formed an alliance with former rival SP and the RLD, also said that it was the BJP government which freed the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief.

“Earlier BJP government made Masood Azhar a guest and later freed him abroad. Now at the time of elections they are trying to gather votes on his name; it is condemnable,” Mayawati was quoted as saying by ANI.

Azhar was on Wednesday night declared a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) under 1267 sanctions list after China lifted a technical hold on the proposal forwarded by US, France and UK.

Read More: UN declares Maulana Masood Azhar global terrorist after China lifts hold

The decision to place Azhar in the list is a major diplomatic victory for India, which had been relentlessly trying to get the mastermind of the terror attacks at the Parliament in 2001, Pathankot and Uri in 2016, and Pulwama attack this year in the list.

“The first effort was made in 2009. More recently, we have been persistent, diligent and, in a subterranean manner, making all our efforts towards this goal. Today that goal stands achieved,” said Syed Akbaruddin, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.